


Divided We Fall

by grimlealls



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Spoilers, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 23:53:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17949569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimlealls/pseuds/grimlealls
Summary: After completing his second heist with the Phantom Thieves, Akira hears something in the Velvet Room he shouldn't have: he is not alone. There's another person out there just like him, another wildcard - but this person is not his friend. As it stands, the two are in competition, on a collision course that will undoubtedly end in failure for one of them, if not them both. Still, he can't help but wonder if it has to be this way. After meeting the famed detective Goro Akechi, who seems to have taken an interest in the Phantom Thieves' case, Akira wonders if perhaps he can use this new connection to uncover the identity of the other wildcard in order to forge a bond before it is too late.Or, alternatively: How far are you willing to go if you learn that you don't have to be alone?





	Divided We Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys!! It's been a while since I've posted anything on here, and I've never written any Persona fics before, but these kids have been on my mind nonstop lately so I just had to get it out of my system^^ I don't want to take up too much time at the beginning here, so I'll just say that I hope I do a justice to these wonderful characters!! Thanks for checking out my story, and I hope you enjoy it!!

Akira wondered, not for the first time, if this was all born of some desperate and selfish desire not to be alone. He was used to being alone. Even before he’d been cast out of his town and home, thrust into the bustling yet impersonal streets of Tokyo, he’d been rather used to it, never really craving the constant spotlight of attention amidst a group of peers. However, now that he was here, a speck amongst a sea of people, he felt lonelier than he could ever recall feeling before. There was something soothing at times about being able to slip by unnoticed, hiding behind his glasses and weaving between people who hardly registered his existence - but also something profoundly terrifying. Now more than ever before, he felt he was in danger of losing himself.

It was then that a firm grasp gripped his shoulder, pulling him back to reality, grounding him. He looked over to find bleached blond hair and a wide, toothy grin meeting his gaze, and his lips curved up into a little smirk. Things had been going by so fast, fast enough to feel unreal, but he wasn’t alone. Not now, he wasn’t.

“The hell are you smiling about all of a sudden?” Ryuji scoffed, quirking an eyebrow. “You’ve been zoning out all day. Anyway, follow Ann and sit your ass down already, will ya?”

Akira tilted his head, glancing around Ryuji and noting that he was in fact holding up the line of other Shujin students. He turned to face the opposite direction, where Ann had already taken a seat in their row of chairs, staring over at him expectantly. Without a word, he filed in and sat down next to her, soon followed by Ryuji and the rest of their classmates.

A field trip. They were on a field trip, that was right. It was hard to pay attention when he’d spent the last week or so running through a museum made of solid gold and stealing treasure from a famous, greedy artist who abused his students and profited off their labor.

Despite having gone through the same exact thing in the exact same gold museum, Ann and Ryuji were apparently not quite as fazed. Ann crossed her legs, tucking a stray lock of hair that had come loose from her twintails behind an ear as she leaned in. “What’s up?” she asked in a hushed tone. “Zoning out again?”

“You know it,” Ryuji said, slinging an arm over the back of Akira’s chair and leaning in as well, effectively sealing Akira’s fate as somehow both the topic of current conversation and the obstacle between the two, making it difficult to have said conversation.

“Am I really that bad?” Akira asked in an attempt to fight this fate.

“Yeah dude, you don’t realize how much you stare into space?” Ryuji scoffed. “I’m surprised you’re as smart as you are. You can come across like an airhead sometimes, you know?”

Akira thought that was incredibly rich coming from Ryuji.

Ann opened her mouth as if to respond, but the lights in the seating area were already beginning to dim, the teachers shushing the small crowd of students as the two television hosts took their spots on the brightened stage. A man counted down from three, and in no time they were on air.

Akira fully intended on taking this opportunity to continue his internal ruminations, though he was pulled from his reveries when Ann jostled him from the side. He glanced up at her, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose with an inquisitive quirk of an eyebrow. She gestured to the stage, and he glanced up to see a boy about the same age as him walking on from the side. He wasn’t a Shujin student, clad instead in a light colored jacket and black gloves. There was something familiar about his soft features and coffee-colored hair, which was soft-looking and just barely brushing against his shoulders, but most of all about the sharp glint of something glimmering in those amber eyes. It was something burning, like some smoldering sense of knowing. Akira pursed his lips as he narrowed his eyes at the boy. He was sure he’d seen him before, but where?

“We’re honored to have you joining us again, Akechi-kun,” one of the hosts welcomed amicably, and _oh, yeah._ Goro Akechi, second coming of the Detective prince, or something like that at least. He was about to turn to Ann as the hosts asked Akechi about any current cases on his mind, intending to ask her what the big deal was, until Akechi’s TV smile spread a bit wider and his lips parted to answer.

“There is one, which would be the recent scandal involving the master artist Madarame.”

Akira froze. Madarame. That had been what was clouding his own mind mere moments ago. He fixed his eyes on the detective with a fervent yet controlled curiosity, leaning back in his seat and taking in the spectacle with a bit more regard than before.

“Oh? You mean even you’re caught up in all this hype surrounding the so-called Phantom Thieves as well?” the one Host asked. “If I may be blunt with you, what do you think about these Phantom Thieves?”

Akechi’s lips twitched up into a slightly wider smile as he tilted his head to the side, his hair shifting with the movement. “Well, if they truly are heroes of justice, then I sincerely hope they really do exist,” he laughed a bit.

This comment elicited a gasp from the host, as well as a murmur of curiosity from the crowd of students around Akira. “You mean you think it’s possible that they do exist?” the host pressed on.

“Why, is it hard to believe I’d say that?” Akechi inquired. “Maybe I seem like the serious type, but sometimes I find myself wishing that Santa Claus was real, you know. Although if he was, I’d have to have him arrested for breaking and entering.”

A ripple of laughter made its way through the crowd, and Akira felt Ryuji shifting by his side, rolling his eyes at the corny joke, no doubt. He kept his own eyes glued to the stage, seeking out anything he might be able to tuck away for closer scrutiny in the near future. A detective speaking out about their little group was certainly a call for attention, to say the least. He wondered if this response on Akechi’s part was as personal as he made it seem or if it had been discussed and fleshed out between him and his colleagues.

Akechi started speaking again, and Akira zeroed in on him with his eyes, setting aside his thoughts for the moment. “Yes,” he said in response to whatever he’d just been asked. “If the Phantom Thieves prove to be real, I believe the only true course of action would be to try them in a court of law. It’s easy to become swept away with the fantasy of it all, but the fact remains that we don’t know how it is that they ‘steal the hearts’ of their targets. And even beyond that, it is my strong belief that one should never forcefully change another person’s heart.”

“Wow, what an interesting perspective!” one of the hosts gushed. “Now, we’d like to try something here. In our audience we have some students from one of the local academies, so we’d like to hear the opinions of some people around the same age as Akechi-kun. So, how many of you believe that the Phantom Thieves really exist? You can press the button provided to you if you think they do.”

“‘Course they do,” Ryuji hissed under his breath from Akira’s side, apparently incensed by the course of the interview. Ann shot him a look from Akira’s other side, pressing her button and turning her eyes back to the stage as if telling Ryuji to shut his mouth. Akira followed suit.

“The results are in! It seems about thirty percent believe the Phantom Thieves are real.”

“Whoa, thirty percent?” Akechi gasped, his reddish eyes widening. “That’s even higher than I thought it would be. Given the high number, I’m quite interested in the opinions of our audience on the Phantom Thieves, provided they exist.”

“Well then, why don’t we choose a member of the audience?”

And then, suddenly, a microphone was being shoved in Akira’s face. He blinked in surprise, glancing up at the host, who smiled down at him in a way he guessed was supposed to be reassuring. Of course, this was just his luck, though he had no intentions of backing down. This could prove to be an interesting exchange after all.

“Very well, the boy in the glasses, then,” said the host still standing on the stage. “What would your opinion be on the Phantom Thieves, if they are real?”

Akira glanced over at Akechi, whose burning gaze was now resting directly on him. He returned the stare, calm and collected, as he leaned into the microphone. “They do more than the cops,” he suggested casually.

A murmur rippled in the crowd around him, and he thought he saw one corner of Akechi’s lips twist up into some sort of smirk, before he smoothed it out into a calm, even smile once again. “Aha, how interesting,” he laughed. “Can I ask you another question, then? A friend of yours, say, the one sitting beside you right now...what if his heart were to suddenly change? Would you think it was the work of the Phantom Thieves?”

Akira shook his head, remaining as casual as possible as he answered. “They only target criminals,” was the only response he offered.

“I see,” Akechi replied, tapping a gloved finger against his chin in thought, “but tell me, how can you be so sure? We know nothing of the Phantom Thieves’ methods when it comes to changing hearts, let alone their motives. Even if we are to assume that they’re passing their form of justice over those who are guilty of unsavory deeds, how are we to trust their conception of justice? Who are they to exert this justice over a populace who has never consented to it? And if they truly are capable of something as drastic as changing one’s heart, then how can we trust that they won’t use this ability to commit crimes? How do we know that they haven’t already?” A brief pause, and then suddenly he looked up, a sheepish little laugh escaping his lips as he smiled once again. “Aha, I’m sorry for questioning you so intensely. I appreciate the input, and this is all hypothetical, after all.”

The interview didn’t stretch on much longer after that, and judging by what Akira could tell, Akechi seemed eager for it to come to a close after this brief questioning was over as well. He still answered all the questions asked of him and smiled fondly into the cameras, but there was something turning in his head, gears clicking into place - it was an expression Akira was familiar with, as one who often entered such a state of mind himself. Zoning out, as Ann and Ryuji would have put it, he figured. He wondered if it seemed like Akechi was zoning out to anyone else or if he simply noticed because he was watching him, watching for it. Towards the end of the interview Akechi’s gaze flickered over to him, and their eyes locked for a brief moment. The sudden eye contact was a bit surprising, but Akira didn’t allow himself to be fazed by it. He stared back, his mild surprise elevated slightly by the fact that Akechi held his gaze for a substantial amount of time as well. However, their little staring contest was cut short when one of the hosts asked another question, pulling Akechi’s attention away once again. Akira hummed softly to himself.

“It...kinda sounded like he might be right.” Akira glanced over at Ann as the three of them followed the rest of the Shujin students out of the filming area after the interview was over. She was frowning, her eyes cast down at the ground.

“Bullshit,” Ryuji spat in response. “He made it seem like we were the bad guys or something. We’re not doing anything wrong, we’re helpin’ people.”

“I guess,” Ann sighed, still seeming to have her doubts. “Sorry, I’m not trying to be pessimistic. You don’t really think the police are onto us, do you? He said that he’s been talking with his cohort about us, at least a little. What do you think that means?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Morgana suddenly asserted, poking his head out from under the flap of Akira’s backpack. Akira turned slightly so that he would have better access to the conversation. “He can say whatever he wants, but we’re the ones who decide the justice for ourselves.”

“Yeah,” Ryuji said, seeming to be reassured by Morgana’s statement as he grinned. “Uh, but I gotta go take a leak. Wait for me?”

Without sticking around for an answer, Ryuji went off to find a restroom, leaving Ann sighing and shaking her head. “I’m not waiting for him,” she said, her eyes half-lidded in exasperation. “You can if you want, but I’m gonna go on ahead.”

Akira opened his mouth to say something, but Ann was already turning to leave, her long hair billowing out behind her as she went. Akira considered following, but he figured it would be rather cruel to leave Ryuji, knowing he would likely wander around the filming studio in search for the two of them if he didn’t find them where he’d left them. He shifted to lean against the wall as he waited, pushing up his glasses before shoving his hands into his pockets, and when he looked back up he immediately caught a glimpse of crimson.

Eyes. Crimson eyes staring back at him, seeming surprised as well. The eyes blinked, as did his own, before the other boy finally smiled. “Oh, it’s you,” came the laugh.

“Detective,” Akira greeted, removing a hand from his pocket to give Akechi a lazy sort of salute.

Akechi laughed again, covering his mouth with a gloved hand a bit coyly. “Actually, I’m happy I found you,” he admitted. “I wanted to thank you for our discussion during the program. To paraphrase Hegel, advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis.”

Akira let a beat of silence fall between them before cocking his head to the side. “Are you quoting German philosophy at me?” he questioned, deciding to let Akechi decide whether he found it impressive or pretentious.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Akechi said, offering a self-conscious smile as he tucked a loose strand of silky hair behind his ear. “What I mean to say is that I really enjoyed our discussion. There aren’t many people who speak their opinions so freely around me, you know. Adults are only interested in using the young.”

Akira quirked an eyebrow at that; Akechi’s voice had shifted into something ever so slightly dark during the last comment. He wondered if perhaps the two of them had experiences more similar than he’d first assumed.

“Ah, my apologies once again,” Akechi quickly corrected, however. “Perhaps the freedom of your thoughts is rubbing off on me? Regardless, I really did enjoy our conversation, and I’d be thrilled if you wanted to talk more in the future.”

“Are you asking to be my friend, detective?”

Akechi blinked, his smile faltering for a fraction of a second before straightening itself back out. It was an almost imperceptible fault, but one that Akira’s observant eyes caught nonetheless. “Aha, I suppose you could put it that way,” he replied. “Regardless, what do you say? Would you be willing to have future discussions?”

Akira offered a shrug, adjusting his glasses. “I wouldn’t mind, if the opportunity arises again.”

“Great. I suppose I should introduce myself officially then, shouldn’t I?” Akechi extended his hand, fixing Akira with a rather polished and professional smile. “I’m Goro Akechi, private detective.”

“Akira Kurusu,” Akira responded, taking Akechi’s hand in his own with a firm grasp. The leather of the detective’s gloves was cool and smooth against his fingers. “Average, unremarkable high school student.”

“Unremarkable, is it?” Akechi hummed, his eyes glimmering with mirth at the sarcastic comment. “I look forward to our next meeting with anticipation, Kurusu-kun.”

Akira loosened his grasp on Akechi’s hand, and the detective’s fingers brushed softly across his palm as he slipped his hand out of his grip, turning away. Akira watched him for a moment in curiosity, and he felt Morgana peek his head out from under his arm once again. “Talk about a problematic guy to get involved with,” he meowed under his breath.

“Are you complaining about my choice in business contacts?” Akira asked him. “It’s called networking.”

“I guess,” Morgana conceded, though he still seemed a bit suspicious. “Well, I guess there is a lot we could learn from him, in theory. Just be careful, alright?”

“When am I ever not?”

“Careful about what?”

Akira glanced up to find Ann striding towards him. She crossed her arms as she slowed to a stop by his side. “The bus is about to leave. Where’s Ryuji?”

“Still in the bathroom,” Akira said.

“Akira was just getting all buddy-buddy with Akechi,” Morgana supplied, ever the most helpful.

“What?” Ann gasped, her gaze turning on Akira with a sharp, scolding sort of edge. “What were you thinking?”

“He’s the one who approached me,” Akira offered.

“Who approached you?”

Akira turned to find Ryuji coming towards them, his eyes wide with curiosity. “Thanks for waitin’, by the way. They were out of toilet paper.”

“We’ll talk about it on the ride back to school,” Ann declared, unfolding her arms to place a hand on her hip. “But if we don’t go now, we’ll miss the bus altogether. Let’s go.”

The rest of the day was decidedly uneventful, which left Akira with more time than was probably good for him to mull over what had transpired that morning. With a supposed ace detective like Goro Akechi apparently interested in their case, they would have to be sure to be careful. He’d spent his time during lunch (and when he could get away with it, during class as well) researching the high school prodigy on his phone. At a glance he seemed like little more than a social media sweetheart (“You sure this guy’s a detective? Looks like an airheaded bimbo to me - just look at this picture,” Ryuji had said during lunch, earning a sharp elbow to the gut from Ann), but upon further digging, it seemed Goro Akechi had a rather impressive resume beneath the pretty face and charming exterior. Despite the necessity of the situation, Akira was beginning to regret that their first target had been a teacher at their own school. If Akechi was as intelligent as he seemed, it wouldn’t take him long to piece together that the culprits were students at Shujin. Given the fact that they had been invited to the television interview over some other school, he wondered if he already had his suspicions.

By the time he made it home, Akira was more than ready to let himself fall into the dark, empty clutches of sleep, though apparently he wasn’t allowed that luxury today either. The last thing he remembered was lying his head down on his soft, comfortable pillow, before he was suddenly unable to sleep any longer. There was nothing cushioning his skull now except for something cold, flat, and very hard. With a groan, he rolled over onto his back, finally managing to crack open his eyes. He found himself staring up at a dim concrete ceiling, and he heaved a sigh as he forced himself to sit up.

Just as he’d suspected, he was back in that blue prison once again. The saturated hues bled into his sight so that he couldn’t escape them if he’d tried, painting themselves on the insides of his eyelids so they were there even when he blinked. He felt his joints creaking as he pushed himself to his feet, dragging himself over to the entrance of the cell and grabbing the bars to peer out from between them.

He resisted the urge to let his eyes slip closed as Igor’s low, rumbling voice roared in his ears much like the ocean would. It was pretty unfair that he felt this tired even in his dreams, though he supposed there was a reason this place was said to exist between dreams and reality. When he blinked his eyelids were suddenly heavy as anvils, and they stayed shut a bit longer than he meant for them to be. He felt himself slipping for a moment, zoning out, and then he heard it.

“...on a path to failure?”

That got his attention.

He opened his eyes again, aware that the voice had not come from Igor, but one of the twin wardens standing guard before his cell. As discreetly as he could, without moving his head, he shifted his gaze to the girls. They were huddled together, Caroline’s arms folded across her chest and Justine’s hanging together in front of her, her hands clutched together. From the short time he’d known them Akira didn’t think the two were ever really pleased - or Caroline never was, at the very least - but the discontent scribbled across both their young faces was more prominent than usual.

“Failure?” Justine inquired in a hushed voice. “That’s a strong word, at least regarding rehabilitation.”

“About the worst I can think of,” Caroline conceded with a curt nod. “But it’s true, isn’t it? It’s like he’s pitting the two wildcards against each other. That would mean one of them has to fail.”

“It’s true,” Justine sighed. “We are supposed to be allies to the inmates during their attempts at rehabilitation, but how are we to properly fulfil that role when it almost feels like a competition?”

“I don’t know,” Caroline spoke with a frown. “There’s no precedence for this. I don’t really know what he’s thinking.”

Suddenly, yellow eyes were turning on him. Akira blinked down at the pair in surprise, and Caroline’s expression twisted into a glare.

“What do you think you’re doing, inmate?” she spat, her voice venomous as ever. “Eavesdropping when you’re supposed to be paying attention? Unbelievable!” She cracked her baton against the bars of his cell for emphasis, and he flinched back, releasing his grip.

“He’s seemed a bit distracted from the start,” Justine murmured, tapping a finger against her chin. “Perhaps he should rest?”

“We’re through with everything we need to speak of anyway,” Igor spoke calmly, folding his hands together over the surface of his desk. “You may return to your world.”

In what felt like a sudden and immediate ordeal, Akira was thrust into the waking world. He started up into an upright position in his bed, gasping for breath, and Morgana flinched awake at his side.

“Akira?” he questioned. “Is everything alright? Bad dream?”

Akira nodded, not really having much of a desire to get into any of it with Morgana even if he had known where to start. He threw his legs over the side of the bed as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, then forced himself to stand. He knew he wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep, there wasn’t much of a point in trying.

Another wildcard...was it?

 

 

 

He was pulled back to reality by a cool puff of air across his face, which caused his messy bangs to flutter a bit before his eyes. He blinked in surprise, then turned to find Ann with a straw pursed between her lips and her expression twisted into something mischievous.

“Can I help you?”

“You were zoning out again,” Ryuji informed him, tossing an arm over his shoulder and pulling him closer in what felt awfully similar to a headlock. “You plan on actually eatin’ your lunch, by the way? Because if you don’t I will.”

“Hey, no stealing!” Ann ordered after spitting out her straw, swatting Ryuji’s hand away as he reached for Akira’s food. “He probably didn’t eat breakfast either, so at least let him eat now. I’m sure he needs it.”

“What makes you think I didn’t eat breakfast?”

“You’re totally that kinda person.”

“Dude, she’s kinda right. I think you live off of coffee.”

Akira smirked a bit, glancing down at his bento and selecting some onigiri to nibble on. He let Ann and Ryuji bicker back and forth for a bit, breaking the last of his onigiri into two pieces and offering one to Morgana as their voices droned comfortably and familiarly in the background. Morgana extended his head from the bag and took the piece of food with great pleasure - it was salmon-filled - and Akira mused at how strange it was that the pair’s voices were so comforting and familiar to him already. Still, despite this feeling, he couldn’t shake the cold tendrils of loneliness from snaking in and wrapping themselves around his ribcage. It almost made him feel guilty. His friends meant so much to him already, and here he was feeling lonely and sorry for himself in their presence.

“Hey, you guys have never had a dream about a blue room before, have you?”

All three of them glanced up at him, the banter fading to silence, and he immediately regretted the question. The quiet was alienating, making Akira feel judged and alone more than he already did. He fought the urge to avert his gaze.

“A...blue room?” Morgana murmured, seeming to be thinking very hard.

“What, do you think we should have had the same dream for some reason?” Ann inquired.

“Yeah, what do ya mean?” Ryuji joined in. “If it’s just a dream then it doesn’t mean anything anyway, does it?”

“Sorry, I’m just zoning out again, I guess,” Akira mumbled. He adjusted his glasses, then turned his attention back down to his food. _Please keep talking, please keep talking,_ he found himself begging in his mind, for some reason unable to take the weighted, expectant silence for much longer. Luckily, Ann seemed to remember a different dream she’d had recently, and the others dove easily into that topic of conversation, not seeming to notice Akira’s discomfort. He let out a breath of relief.

Of course none of them were wildcards. None of them could summon more than one persona, after all.

He felt even more alone than he had before.

Somewhere in his scrambled brain Akira knew that choosing to spend time alone when he already felt lonely was more than just counterproductive, but counterintuitive. However, that didn’t stop himself from deciding to take a detour on his way home, heading towards the park he’d visited with Ann. Even Morgana seemed to pick up on his solemn demeanor. He’d tried to talk during their train ride home, asking where they were going and why they weren’t heading home. Akira had tried his best to maintain his typical attitude, but apparently he was even more concise than usual. After arriving at the park, Morgana jumped out from Akira’s backpack, paws landing gracefully in the plush grass as he turned up to look at him. “I’m gonna explore for a bit and maybe lay in the sun. I’ll come find you in a little bit, okay?”

Akira nodded, hands in his pockets as he watched Morgana turn and run off. The sun glinted off his glossy fur as he disappeared into the trees, and after he was gone from sight Akira let out a sigh. He started walking in the opposite direction, kicking a rock out of his path idly. What a shitty day. He had no excuse to be in such a bad mood, aside from the fact that Akechi might be onto the Phantom Thieves with the intent to put them behind bars, and maybe the additional concern that there was another wildcard running around out there somewhere who was apparently “pit against him” in competition.

Okay, so maybe he did have a reason to be a little down.

He slowed to a stop as he neared a lake. The sunlight refracted off its little ripples like flakes of gold. He wished he could say it was beautiful, but he’d seen enough gold to satisfy a lifetime after all the time he’d spent in Madarame’s palace. Maybe even two. He wondered not for the first time if maybe he and the Phantom Thieves weren’t the only ones who had access to the Metaverse. They mustn’t be the only ones, if there was another wildcard running around out there somewhere. He remembered what Akechi had said about the method the Phantom Thieves used being uncertain and therefore dangerous, that it could perhaps be used for injustice. He wondered if the other wildcard was using the Metaverse for evil. If they were competing, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think that.

He wondered if this other wildcard felt lonely, too.

He didn’t want them to feel lonely, he realized with a bit of surprise. He didn’t want them to be fighting against each other, either. The twins themselves had expressed their doubts about the situation, and if there was disagreement amongst those in the Velvet Room, then what did that say about the certainty of the situation? Heading down a path of failure...Would it be possible for them to meet somewhere in the middle? To save each other before that failure swallowed them whole? Would he even be able to find this other wildcard before it was too late?

“Oh…”

The voice shocked him from his trance-like stupor, and he nearly lost his footing and tumbled down into the water. He teetered rather indignantly before spinning around and grabbing what was closest, which just so happened to be a human arm. He tugged on the arm hard to balance himself, finding that said arm was in fact attached to a body. He had enough time to notice this one simple fact before the moment was already passing him by, and he stumbled back over his own feet, falling down hard on his ass. Fortunately(?) he wasn’t alone in this endeavor, for he’d managed to tug this other human down to the ground with him. Easily one of the the top ten coolest things he’d ever done in the company of others. Maybe even top five.

“K...Kurusu-kun?”

Oh _shit._

“Falling for me already, detective?” Akira internally screamed at himself for letting such a thing spill from his mouth. He made the abhorrent mistake of opening it again in an attempt to mitigate the damage he’d already caused, but instead was apparently only capable of tacking on the absolutely horrendous addendum: “We really have to stop meeting like this.”

Akira suddenly remembered why he didn’t speak up all too often.

Goro Akechi stared down at him with wide eyes for what felt like a long moment, before suddenly bursting into a fit of laughter. Akira expected the embarrassing moment to pass soon, like the bashful little giggles the boy had let out during the interview and their conversation afterwards, but he _kept going._ He just sat there laughing at him from his wonderfully considerate position on top of him, keeping him in place as an unwilling spectator to the consequences of his mortifying actions.

Eventually Akechi was apparently capable of controlling his obnoxious laughter to the extent of being able to drag himself off of Akira’s body, which Akira would have been thankful for if he hadn’t been so annoyed. He climbed to his feet with a frown, brushing off his uniform and trying to collect what was left of his dignity. “Glad to see you’re enjoying yourself,” he said, pushing up his glasses.

“I- I’m so sorry,” Akechi choked out between his giggles. “I really am, it’s just...that has to be one of the most absurd things to ever happen to me in recent memory.”

“Really? That’s not even the most absurd thing that’s happened to me in the last couple days.”

This, of course, only fueled the detective’s hysterical state even more. Seeing as his words were apparently capable of nothing other than reducing Akechi to a mess of gasping laughter, Akira decided to wait it out before attempting to speak once more. Eventually Akechi was able to regain his composure, and Akira shoved his hands into his pockets, shifting his weight to the side. “You good now?”

“My apologies,” Akechi said, coughing into his hand in an attempt to stifle his little smirk. “I don’t know when the last time I laughed so hard was. I honestly can’t remember.”

“Glad to be of service to you,” Akira replied. _They don’t call me Joker for nothing,_ he wanted to add, but refrained from speaking for obvious reasons.

“It is rather interesting for the two of us to run into each other so soon after meeting though, don’t you think?” Akechi inquired, brushing some of his hair out of his face. “One might even call it fate.”

“Or maybe we’ve been in the same place before and just never noticed, since we couldn’t recognize each other back then,” Akira suggested. “You believe in stuff like fate?”

“Why, does it seem like a detective shouldn’t?”

“Kinda, yeah,” Akira offered, and Akechi chuckled a bit at that. Luckily it didn’t stretch on for nearly as long this time.

“Well, maybe I do,” Akechi mused, a small little smile resting curiously across his lips. It was an odd smile. A genuine one, Akira was fairly sure, though one he couldn’t easily read. “You can’t deny it seems to be bringing the two of us together, can you?”

“Trying to rope me into another debate, are you?” Akira asked, smirking a bit himself. “Is arguing the only thing you know how to do?”

“Oh, it looks as if I’ve been caught red-handed,” Akechi confessed. “It’s not arguing though, it’s an honest conversation. I like having those. It’s interesting to hear the views of others who think differently from you, wouldn’t you say?”

“You sure ask a lot of questions.”

“And you sure have a penchant for trying to deflect them.”

Akira looked back over at the boy, who met his gaze with a wide, overly-innocent grin. He shook his head, turning to glance out over the lake. “Fine, you’ve got me cornered,” he gave in. “You can interrogate me to your heart’s content.”

“It’s not like you’re my prisoner,” Akechi insisted, turning to look as well. He was silent for a stretch as he took in the sight. “The park really is beautiful this time of day, don’t you think? Especially the lake. I like the way the sunlight refracts in the water.”

Akira nodded. “You come here often then, I take it?”

“Only when I have time enough for it,” Akechi responded. Akira turned to sneak a glance at him, noting the serene way his smile was resting upon his face. The light from the sun was warm-toned and soft as it colored his features, his eyelashes casting long shadows down the tops of his cheekbones. It was kind to him, that light, though he figured any sort of light would be kind to a pretty boy face like that. It was sort of a little annoying. “My schedule tends to be pretty crazy, so I don’t have much time for taking casual strolls in the park, but it does help me clear my thoughts every now and then. Do you come here often?”

“No,” Akira replied, returning his gaze to the lake once more. “I just moved to the area recently, anyway. There’s not much I’ve had the time to do regularly just yet.”

“Well, that makes two of us, at least,” Akechi sighed. “Consistency can be quite illusive in life, can’t it? What do you say we try to be each other’s constants?”

Akira turned his head again, this time finding Akechi already smiling over at him. “What?”

“You already said you’d be fine with engaging in conversation should we get the opportunity,” Akechi explained. “Well, here we are, just happening to run into each other the very next day after meeting for the first time. Seems like the universe is trying to tell us something, doesn’t it?”

Akira smirked, a hint of mischief flickering in his eyes behind the lenses of his glasses. “So this is about fate again?”

“If I told you yes would you decline my offer?” Akechi challenged, and Akira thought he might have seen the same flash of mischief glinting in his amber stare. “Give me your phone. I’ll put my number in.”

“Pretty forward, don’t you think?” Akira teased. “You really won’t take no for an answer.”

“I’m doing you a favor,” Akechi insisted.

“By forcing your way into my life?”

“Well, I meant by putting my contact in your phone, that way it’s entirely up to you if you want to reach out to me and continue our rapport. But maybe a little of that too.”

Akira shook his head, digging around in his pocket and retrieving his phone. He handed it over as he turned to look out over the water once again. “Alright, guess I can’t argue with that, detective.”

“Akechi,” the boy corrected, holding the device back out to him after inputting his information. “Call me Akechi. Please.”

Akira eyed him for a moment before allowing a small smirk, taking the phone back and stowing it away. “If you say so, Akechi,” he replied.

“I regret to say I should be on my way now, but I look forward to spending more time conversing with you,” Akechi told him, sounding a little more sincere than Akira thought was normal for two people just meeting each other. It made the moment feel a bit too intimate, a bit too real. Guilt began to creep in on him; this was a casual conversation for him, but it was occurring to him all of a sudden that it might not have been so casual for Akechi.

“That’s presuming I text you back,” Akira reminded him, hoping it might reinforce the light atmosphere of the exchange.

Akechi laughed softly, which he figured was the best outcome he could have hoped for. “You’re right. If you text me back,” he said, already beginning to turn away. “Anyway, I hope you have a lovely rest of your night, Kurusu-kun.”

“Yeah,” Akira said, nodding as Akechi started on his way. “You too, Akechi.”

Akira watched as the image of Akechi disappeared into the distance; he didn’t turn to look back at him at any point as he left. Akira wasn’t really sure why he was expecting him to, anyway. Despite the strange air of sincerity that had clouded the final moments of their conversation, Akira had the suspicion that Akechi was mostly interested in him as an information source directly from Shujin Academy itself - why else would he be so adamant on establishing a line of communication with somebody he had just met? Sure, it was a dangerous connection to make, as Morgana had pointed out the previous day, but given the new bit of information he’d received in the Velvet Room last night, he figured two could play at this game. After all, who better to help him find another wildcard messing around in the Metaverse than a detective who was already on the case?

“Akira!”

He looked up, eyes scanning the park for a moment before finally finding Morgana bounding over to him, tail swishing. “Morgana,” he spoke with a smile.

“You seem to be in better spirits than earlier,” the cat noted as he slowed to a stop in front of Akira’s feet. “Did the fresh air help you clear your head?”

“Something like that,” Akira conceded, bending down to let Morgana jump back into his backpack.

“Well whatever did it, I’m glad you’re feeling better. You’re no fun to be around when you’re all grumpy. Are we going home now?”

Akira smirked, adjusting his grip on the backpack as he stood back up. “Yeah,” he said. “let’s head home.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed my little introduction to the fic^^ Chapters will probably get longer as I get more into the meat of the story and things get a little more intense, but at this point everything is still just getting started. What do you guys think so far? Do you think the idea of Akira finding out about the other wildcard and taking matters into his own hands is worth exploring? Your feedback really means the world to me, so I would love to hear what your opinions are!! As for me, I find writing Akechi to come pretty naturally, actually. Writing from Akira's perspective is a little challenging since he's so quiet and cool, but I'm definitely enjoying it and looking forward to doing it more^^
> 
> Oh, and if you want to talk in more detail, you can follow me on twitter/tumblr @grimlealls if you'd like!! I check twitter more often, but I do look at both, and I post art sometimes too. I would love to connect with you guys and talk more directly through there if you want!!
> 
> Anyway, that's enough rambling from me! If you stick around I'm sure you'll come to expect it after a while; I'm no good at being very concise >< But I really do hope you guys enjoyed this, and I hope you have an absolutely lovely day!!! <3


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